Monkey wrench



July 16, 1929. R. HOPPNER 1,721,118

MONKEY WRENCH- Filed May 5, 1928 INVENTOR' Riqn upner BY Qw..m &h ATTORNEY Cil Patented duty 16,1929.

ears,

iz-L MARSCHALL, OF STOCKTON, CALIFORI TIA.,

MONKEY wanncn.

Application filed May 5,

V This invention relates to improvements in monkey wrenches my principal object being to provide a wrench of this character in which the movable jaw provided with means forenabling the same to be quickly moved toward the fixed jaw and to be then held against retractive movement in any position; and having conveniently operated means for releasing the holding means so that said movable jaw may be as quickly 'nioved away from the fixed 'jaw when desired. This avoids the slow movement of the-movable jaw as is common to the usual type of wrench. v Q

A further object of .the invention-is to produce a simple and inexpensive device and yet one which will be exceedingly effective for the purpose for which it is designed.

These objects I accomplish by means of suchstructure and relative arrangement "of parts as will fully appearbya perusal of the following specification and claim.

In the drawings similar characters ofv reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views:

Fig. 1 is a sideel wrench. v Fig. 2 is a fragmentary'sectional elevation thereof.

Fig- 3 is a fragmentary "side elevation showing a modified aw arrangement.

Fig. 4 is a similar View of another modified jaw arrangement.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the movevation of my improved able control pawl member of the movable jaw, shown detached from the wrench.

teferring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawings, and particularly at present to Figures 1, 2 and 5, the wrench comprises a straight shank 1 having at one end a handle 2 and in the other end a rigid jaw 3 projecting to one side of the shank. Slidable 011 and surrounding the shank is a sleeve 4 from which a jaw 5 projects as an integral part to to operate with the jaw 3. The side of the shank from which thejaws project is provided with a row of transversely extending ratchet teeth 6, facing toward the jaw 3.

Straddling the shank and disposed against the end face of the sleeve 4 farthest from the jaw 5 is a yoke 7 whose opening 8 is longer than the width of the shank.v At one end of this opening the yoke is formed with a tapering or wedge shaped pawl 9 to 1928. Serial ITO/275,416.

engage the ratchet teeth. Between the pawl and the adjacent end of the yoke the latter is provided with a slot 10 which receives the shank of .a headed'screw 11 secured :in' and.

depending' from the sleeve 4. This screw holds the adjacent end of the yoke in place.

against the sleevewhile permitting theyoke to. have. limited sliding move'mentflrelative thereto and to the shank. At its opposite [end the yoke is provided with alongitudinally extending pin '12 whichis slidably.,

of the sleeve; a compression sleeve"15'be-:;; tween the lug and the button acting to pull in the yoke and maintain the pawl yieldably engaged withthe ratchet teeth. I I

By meansof this 'arrangenie'11t"it will be seeii that the sleeve may bepushed"ffrecly. toward the jaw '3, the

pawl automatically moving past the shankteeth'untilthe jaw 5 has assumed a propencooperating position relative to the jaw 3 toengage a nut or bolt cannot then slip in the opposite direction, 'owin'g'to the engagement of the pawl with "head 16 disposed the'rebetwee'n! The'jaw 5' one of the teeth, and also due'to the'direction in which said teeth and pawl face. hen it is desired to' release the pawl to allow the movable jaw to slide away from the fixed jaw, it is only necessary to depress,

the button 14 and hold it depressed so that the pawl will clear the teeth, while at the same time pulling the sleeve along the shank. Owing to the position of the button on the sleeve and relative to the handle, this operation may be readily done by a finger of the same hand grasping the handle, as will be apparent.

Also owing to the direction of movement of the pawl necessary. to clear the teeth, that is in a direct-ion plane transversely of the shank, the pawl may be made to exactly fit the teeth from top to bottom as shown in 2, so that astrong engagement between the pawl and the teeth is had. Also the yoke being disposed immediately against the sleeve, the pressure tending to slide the sleeve along the shank and away from the jaw 3 when a nut is being engaged and turned, is not taken by the in 12 or the screw 11, but is imparted to t e entire area tendency for the yoke to be stripped off or for the holding means to become weakened or distorted with severe pressure.

In the form of wrench shown in Fig. 3

the operating and control mechanism is theber disposed between the jaws if desired,

while atthe same time providing the wrench with a pair of parallel faced jaws for ordinary nut engaging purposes.

In the form of wrench shown in Fig. 4 there is also a pair of fixed jaws 3 and a corresponding pair of. movable jaws 5". The working faces of one cooperating pair of jawswhile being parallel to each other are disposed at an angle to the faces of the other pair of jaws, so that the tool may be used asan offset wrench when conditions demand. Also the distance between one pair of jaws, is different than the distance between the other pair with the same setting of the sleeve 4:", so that with such setting 'members of different sizes may be engaged by the wrench, such as the nut 18 of a bolt between one pair of jaws, and the relatively smaller head 19 of the same bolt by the other air.

The need of constantly adjusting the sleeve to take carelof every variation in nut or head sizes is therefore lessened considerably over what is necessary with the ordinary wrench.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I have produced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

WVhile this specification sets forth in detailthe present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and useful and desire to se-' cure by Letters Patent is:

A wrench comprising a shank, a fixed jaw thereon, a sleeve slidable on the shank,

a jaw on the sleeve to cooperate with the fixed jaw, ratchet teeth along the shank, a yoke surrounding the shank and trans versely slidable relative thereto, a pawl formed with the yoke for engagement with the teeth, means for supporting and guiding the pawl end of the yoke from the adjacent face of the sleeve, a pin projecting longitudinally from the opposite end of the yoke, a lug depending from the sleeve and in which the pin is slidable, a button on the outer end of the pin projecting outwardly from the lug, the adjacent ends of the button and lug being hollowed out about the pin, and acompression spring about the pin in said hollowed out area.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

ROBERT HOPPNER. 

